QUOTE!

"If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character...Would you slow down? Or speed up?" — Chuck Palahniuk

Friday, August 03, 2007

"The Weekly (C)Wrap-Up - No Rest For NOLA!"

If it is Friday it is time for the Weekly (C)Wrap-Up! I would have had this out earlier but I was hoping to see some smoke like last week before I started no such luck...The Repigs are blocking a lot of investigations with that Executive Privilege Bullshit that Boy Bongo Fearless leader of The Fundamentalist Frauds keeps claiming on everything whether he has to or not...The "push as many envelopes in as many directions as possible and see what IS and IS NOT going to sneak through the cracks policy"...It is not over and more and more folks are waking up but it is getting harder and harder to tell who is who anymore...The "Same Machine Syndrome!" They are all starting to look and sound alike...They are all trying to become the next dictator of Amerikkka...We have absolutely no help from the MSM and in fact they are attacking the Left wing bloggers (anyone that isn't Goose Stepping to Team Evils Bullshit!) with the same kind of vitriol they would a gay, black, retarded, muslim immigrant! We will get to that and also faux noise's contempt and disregard for black people and the mental warfare they wage on already mentally deficient faux noise viewers....However, no real smoking gun like the Tillman incident or the various other atrocities that happened last week that the American public just brushed off because it wasn't them or they thought it had nothing to do with them...That apathy is a bitch! Let's start with this though....

Seems the storms are still not over in NOLA after a judge rules in effect that insurance companies are not liable to pay claims to NOLA residents for losing homes and business due to Katrina...from Yahoo News...

Katrina victims lose in appeals court

By BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press Writer Thu Aug 2, 3:04 PM ET

NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Katrina victims whose homes and businesses were destroyed when floodwaters breached levees in the 2005 storm cannot recover money from their insurance companies for the damages, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The case could affect thousands of rebuilding residents and business owners in Louisiana. Robert Hartwig, chief economist at the industry-funded Insurance Information Institute in New York, said in June that a ruling against the industry could have cost insurers $1 billion.

"This event was excluded from coverage under the plaintiffs' insurance policies, and under Louisiana law, we are bound to enforce the unambiguous terms of their insurance contracts as written," Judge Carolyn King wrote for a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

As a result, the panel found those who filed the suit "are not entitled to recover under their policies," she said.

More than a dozen insurance companies, including Allstate and Travelers, were defendants. MORE!

When it rains it pours especially in NOLA...I never heard about this either in the MSM...From the Times Picuyne:

Katrina death claims dismissed

Judge says U.S. law shields government from liability

Thursday, May 03, 2007

By Gwen Filosa

A federal judge has sided with the government in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by families of three people who died in the immediate, desperate days after Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures when the New Orleans region was stranded without proper emergency services.

Ethel Mayo Freeman, 91, died in her wheelchair Sept. 1, 2005, while waiting in the sweltering heat outside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center for help to arrive in New Orleans.

Her son and caretaker, Herbert Freeman Jr., sued the United States government, including Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and then-FEMA director Michael Brown, for causing her death by negligence.

"One might contend that the federal decisions made in conjunction with Hurricane Katrina demonstrated nonchalance and/or incompetence on the part of those involved," Zainey wrote, in a 23-page decision issued Saturday and filed at court Tuesday.

"The government has publicly admitted that it made many mistakes in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. One can only speculate at this point whether these mistakes caused the tragic deaths of the decedents."

The federal lawsuit is technically still alive, although Zainey dealt the plaintiffs a substantial blow with the ruling. MORE!

Of Course Bushy Boy is going to get out front of this and try to defend the governments no bid awarding of rebuilding contracts to "small business" when we all know that is Bullshit...From Yahoo News:

In a sometimes testy congressional hearing, officials from five government agencies said they were proud of efforts to award work to small companies. But they acknowledged more could be done for small companies specifically in the Gulf Coast region and pleaded for patience.

"I fully expect the numbers to improve," said Lurita Doan, administrator of the Government Services Administration, noting that significant federal contract spending often occurs at the end of the fiscal year in September.

"I would appreciate the opportunity to come back," she said.

"You will," responded Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., who chairs the House Small Business Committee.

Doan joined officials from Homeland Security, Defense, Veterans Affairs and the Small Business Administration who testified Thursday after the committee released an analysis that showed the agencies had made little progress — and in some cases backtracked — on their pledge to do a better job of helping small, local businesses after the 2005 hurricane.

The committee's review found that small businesses in Louisiana had an overall net loss of $8.9 million in contracting dollars since April, when the agencies reaffirmed their commitment to give smaller companies a share of the work. The loss was due in part to a decision at the Homeland Security Department to modify several existing agreements instead of awarding significant new contracts.

In addition, the review found the five agencies had claimed falsely that 259 contracts were awarded to small businesses when in fact they went to large companies or ineligible recipients. That created the false impression that more than $95 million in contracts was awarded to small companies, when the money actually went elsewhere. MORE! (Emphasis Mine)

Now there are several problems going on here along with all the lies and the first and most pressing is that Doan chick is still head of that office...If You recall her ass was hauled in to court on corruption charges and tried to pull a Gonzo with the memory loss thing...So her ass shouldn't be involved in any more decisions ESPECIALLY where awarding contracts are concerned...Just a little reminder bout this bitch from Think Progress:

Today, GSA administrator Lurita Doan testified in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee about her potentially illegal activities, such as encouraging agency employees to help Republican candidates in elections and granting a no-bid contract to a personal friend.

Coincidentally enough, she couldn’t remember anything (except that “there were cookies on the table” at one of her meetings). We put together a montage of her pitiful testimony. Watch it:

Cookies on the table but she can't remember shit else...Maybe she was high?! It is my contention if you can't remember shit you shouldn't have that job...She is obviously another shrub sycophant hired to screw up the government and award his croonies government contracts...

There is one positive out of New Orleans and I touched on this a couple of Friday's ago and it's in response to the "FEMA Formaldehyde Trailers"...From TPMuckraker:

After two years of listening to complaints that the post-Katrina "disaster trailers" contained dangerously high levels of formaldehyde, FEMA is springing into action. They have finally decided to suspend the sale and donation of these trailers while they review the reports that the trailers are causing respiratory problems for residents. It's a stunning reversal, considering that only a few weeks ago Congress saw documents showing that FEMA lawyers had discouraged the agency from looking into the problem. (USA TODAY)

A little too late if ya ask me not too mentioned coupled with these latest court rulings FEMA is just going to do a fake investigation call themselves not liable and continue on business as usual under the "Nazi Homeland Security" umbrella...

Nice little op-ed that sums up the Insurance companies down in NOLA...Mass Liberal:

What's the point?

The victimization of Katrina survivors continues with a federal appeals court ruling that insurance policies that were supposed to cover the losses of businesses and personal property did not cover losses from Katrina.

Yes, I know flood insurance is a very special thing -- something dreamed up because the insurance companies that take our money to "protect" our property are scared silly over losing their shirts by having to pay claims.

And there could very well be culpability -- or gullibility -- on the part of the insured who thought they were covered.

But the three-judge panel sided with insurers fearful of a "multi-billion dollar hit."

"This event was excluded from coverage under the plaintiffs' insurance policies, and under Louisiana law, we are bound to enforce the unambiguous terms of their insurance contracts as written," Judge Carolyn King wrote for a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. As a result, the panel found those who filed the suit "are not entitled to recover under their policies," she said.

I'm sure all those folks who paid multiple billion dollars in premiums are comforted.

The heart of this issue, obviously is whether the floods that followed the wind and the storm surge were an act of God -- or an act of the federal government and Army Corps of Engineers that failed to build adequate levees to hold back the water. MORE!

Here we go with the God bullshit...The Levee's were breached (blown) so this should be a no brainer but the courts are all ruling with the corporations... Keep that in mind!

While all of that is going on in crime circle number 1...I would like to take this opportunity to divert your attention back to the attorney scandal already in progress...Seems Rover won't testify and his aide well sorta...From the Muck...

Rove Aide Testifies, Rove Does Not

By Paul Kiel - August 2, 2007, 10:43 AM

The White House, as expected, claimed executive privilege with regard to testimony by Karl Rove and Rove's aide Scott Jennings about the U.S. attorney firings. You can see that letter here.

But while the White House found that Rove, as an "immediate presidential advisor" was "immune" from Congressional subpoena, they did not make that claim for Jennings. And so he's up this morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee. We'll bring you a little from that hearing, which is going on now, shortly.

Here's a little taste of how Scott Jennings answered any questions that had anything remotely to do with the firing of U.S. attorneys this morning.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) couldn't even get Jennings to answer the question "what role you have in the selection of nominees to be U.S. attorneys." When Jennings refused to answer based on the President's assertion of executive privilege, Leahy cautioned, "now, let's not be too contemptuous of this committee, I'm just asking you what you do."

So why are they wasting time on this...Too waste time apparently...Funny thing is though after all the years (6) and millions of dollars (65mil) hounding Clinton on everything to end up with a perjury charge about a blow job nonetheless and now that they man Abu Al is in the spotlight all these whores have forgotten what perjury is when they hear it huh?!? We know Rover is "durty"...They all violated the Hatch Act, by using those RNC servers to do government business and then "lost" (deleted) the emails...MILLIONS OF THEM!

We cannot forget Terrible Ted and the Alaskan Connection, PorkMaster General of the Congressional set, well next to Murtha, is in some trouble...Seems they raided his recently remodeled and refurbished house in Alaska...Seems Terrible Ted done got himself a little graft scandal...Let's go back a little...First the FBI raid his house on Thursday...They were paying real close attention to the facts that the company that did his remolding job "was not in the business of residential construction or remodeling." And that's not all that's curious about the renovation. The FBI was overlooking the job done by the oils and gas services company Veco and seems to have snagged Mr Stevens in a broader scandal in Alaskan political corruption...Now Stevens has claimed all along that he paid every bill that was sent to him but that might not be many...That is a clever ploy by the Senator...

Let's see what else is going on in the Three Ring Bizzarro World Circus?!

Seems there is this big push by the Bushies to get the Dems to legalize all the Shrubs illegal wiretapping...Talk about political theater...There was absolutely nothing wrong with that FISA bill short of the fact that Bush shit all over it and now needs to cover his ass and there is no more constitution to do it with...All they had to do was go to court and get approval...No they are trying to retro activate some laws to make his bullshit policy legal...After the fact...You cannot make an illegal act legal by passing some law after you got caught! These guy's are simply amazing...And Shrub is not the only one acting stupid about this bill but seems senate Dems are too, however one is keeping his cool and making sure he is looking out for the people:

Feingold: Fools Rush In (To Amend FISA)

By Spencer Ackerman - August 2, 2007, 5:16 PMNegotiations continue between the White House and Senate Democrats to overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and a deal might be done as early as this evening. But Sen. Russell Feingold tells Roll Call (sub.req.) that he'd rather scrap the summer congressional recess than scrap civil liberties in the name of getting a deal done by Monday, when Congress takes a holiday:Saying Congressional Democrats and Republicans were moving “awfully quickly” on a White House proposal to make it easier to eavesdrop on suspected overseas terrorists, Feingold said he is in “no hurry” to leave town for the August recess.

“I don’t feel the need to get out of here. I would much rather stay here than have us make a terrible mistake,” said Feingold, who has made a name for himself as a champion on civil liberties in the Senate. “This is not the kind of thing that should be done on the fly, and I am prepared to stay here as long as it takes to fix it. Or, if they need force this through, I’m not going to make it easy, if they don’t make it better.” MORE!

What is Bushy boy's rush? Even Trent The Redneck Lott got his nickers in a bunch claiming doom and gloom if the bill isn't signed...To Leave DC immediately due to some fake ass terror alerts they made up just for the occasion...I am soooo sick of these fucking guys I do not know what to do...Literally! They make my Nutz ache they really do...I guess I could find some more crap but Imma pass and get myself ready to get drunk and enjoy my weekend...Anything special going on?!? Nothing hear...Trying to save some dough for some things in September like the March and Rally going on on the 15th...Which reminds me:

Saturday, September 15 March on WashingtonEND THE WAR NOW! Check out Sept15.org